NASA Awards External
Tank Contract Modification
(30 April 2008) NASA has signed a US$
39.5 million contract modification with Lockheed Martin Space Systems, New
Orleans, to implement an external tank program employee retention
plan.
Incentives are being provided to eligible external tank
personnel to ensure mission success and construction of the remaining external
tanks to support Space Shuttle Program requirements through September
2010.
Retention of the knowledgeable and skilled external tank workforce
is necessary to produce the remaining shuttle hardware and safely execute all
remaining contract requirements. This modification supports the agency's
priorities of safely flying the space shuttle and completing construction of
the International Space Station.
The contract will end September 30,
2010. This modification brings the total value of the contract, awarded in
October 2000, to US$ 2.967 billion. The contract calls for the delivery of 18
external tanks to NASA. Eleven tanks remain to be delivered.
Work will
be performed at NASA's Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans; NASA's
Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala.; and NASA's Kennedy Space
Center, Fla.
Lockheed Martin builds, assembles and tests the space
shuttle external tanks for NASA at the Michoud facility. The external tank
holds the liquid hydrogen fuel and liquid oxygen for the shuttle's three main
engines. It is the largest single component of the space shuttle and the only
part of the shuttle that is not reused.
At 154 feet tall, the tank is
taller than a 15-story building, with a diameter of about 27.5 feet. During
launch, the tank acts as the structural backbone for the shuttle orbiter and
the solid rocket boosters attached to it.
(source: NASA)
